The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-09-03

1856 a protective tsrif was not suggested
or even limited, by any one of the three
parties which presented presidential can.
d,dates," &c,
That the practical application OF the
principles Of free trade COMPOUNDED oppos.
ition and converted even the protectionists
themselves is proven by the tact that In
1Sj7-eleven years after the passage of the
act-those states loudest In their denuncia-
tions Of the the tariff of '46, voted solidly
in congress to still further reduce the tariff.
That the most highly protected industries
suffered nothing from that free trade tariff
is shown by the fact that in 1857, Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, voted In Congress to
still further reduce 1t by horizontal cut of
% per cent. without a single dissenting
voice from either State. When the former
enemies of a cause thus come to support II,
it may be deemed, indeed, 10 be vindica.ed.
Congressman Plumb,when stumping this
district, declared that the return TO protec.
ton in 1861 enabled the country to pay dur.
ing Its prosecution, as much as II found it.
self indebted at the close of the war. Pro.
tectlonists and fee traders, friends and foes,
refer TO the tariff of 1875 as the "War
Tariff" and 1t has come TO be the settled
conviction, that In some manner, in some
mysterious way, 1t furnished the vast re-
sources employed In that awful ath Crap
pie Of the Western World. Nothing can
be further from the fact however.
The "War Tariff" was intended for pro-
lection, which generally ends where rev.
enue begins. 1t gave protection instead of
revenue. During the first three years of
the war there was collected in round num-
bers one hundred and fifty seven millions
from custom duties. During the last three
years before the war there was collected a
l undred and forty.four millions. Until
Il ade adjusts itself, to new conditions. pro-
lection usually cuts down revenue. And
tho tariff OF 1861 actually deprived the gov
eminent of revenue at the most critical
period of its existence. "War Tariff" in
deed A tariff that furnishes for the ext.
gencies of the most terrible struggle OF
modern times trile over four millions
per annum more then was collected under
the free trade tariff Of 1S57--the lowest
tariff for the century,-an amount not half
as much as we oft times pay upon the pub
lie ds5t In single month. From 1860 TO
1866 the "War Tariff furnished the gov.
ernm.nt but seventy three millions more
than from 1866 to 1851. Protection return
cd to The country as it did upon France in
the shadow of most horrible war. II
would have been received under no other
circumstances. While the attention of the
nation was turned to the greater calamity,
The laser stole in under the fraudulent pre-
tence of furnishing the sinews of war. 1t
came In the train of calamity, and now by
associating itself with the history Of the
war, il appeals to the county for its contin-
uance.
Tho war destroyed wealth; 1t did not
create it. A great nation divided and
placed in hostile array armies of two mil
lions of men, furnished them with engines
of destruction-with military stores and
supplies that were abundant, ample, prof
ligate In their profusion. The conflict was
most mighty and far reaching-literally
cred Battle stamped his foot and the ma
tons falt the shock" Their persistent and
terrible bravery covered with imperishable
lustre theAmerlcan name raised the country
with one vaulting bound to the pinnacle of
military grandeur, and enshrouded 1t in the
robes of m.gic and matchless power
mid the nations of the earth. Whence this
prodigal manifestative of wealth and pow.
err? From what f0unt were these glutton-
GUS resources drawn? Did they flow from
nation enervated, exhausted, pauperized
by fifteen years of free trade from 1916 to
to 1861? The question Is answered before
the asking: That free trade tariff permitted
the foundation 70 be laid, broad and deep,
of national prosperity unparalleled in the
tide of time,--a prosperity Titanic in its
proportions, universal in its blessings.
Though the National Bank, Independent
Treasury and like questions occasionally
arose to temporary importance, the Tariff
was the real question that divided the DEM
ocratic and whig parties for thirty years.
Upon this question the democracy drove
the whig party to its death and erected the
standard of commercial freedom above its
grave. Its adherents broke into fragments
forming the American party a. the south
and the republican at the north, both of
which at first were as distinctively free
trade as was the democratic party. The
first measure the republican party ever car
ried forward and incorporated into the law
vss the tariff of 1857. 1t was formulated
and reported by Republican Ways
and Means Committee appointed by Ma
n D..l-s ba fret ranuhlipop cDpaE.